Narmada Bachao Andolan group will protest indefinitely against rising water level in Sardar Sarovar Dam.
In a small village in Madhya Pradesh's Barwani, 350 km from capital Bhopal, houses near the Sardar Sarovar Dam have unfurled black flags in yet another protest against the government's unfulfilled rehabilitation. For the land it acquired 10 years ago, 50 per cent people claim they are yet to be compensated.
The Satyagraha against closing of Sardar Sarovar dam sluice gates is in its third day today. Leading the indefinite protest, activist and Narmada Bachao Andolan leader Medha Patkar said, "Even today, the Madhya Pradesh government has given land to only 50 families in Madhya Pradesh and that too mainly Supreme Court petitioners."
In Pichodi village, where the government claims to have completed rehabilitation, NDTV found that half the families were still living there, most lacking basic amenities.
"Pichodi is one such village where only 11 families who have got land. Many have taken half of monetary package which itself is illegal," Ms Patkar said.
Farmer Maya Ram whose family owns 10 acres of agricultural land claims the administration misled his family in 2002 and offered them money instead of land. Since then, he has been running pillar to post to get land for land compensation.
"We got half instalment for our land. The NBA informed us that we should get land for land compensation so I did not take the remaining amount. We have not got land yet."
50 per cent people displaced from around Narmada river claim to have not been rehabilitated.
The state government has decided to raise the water level in the dam by 17 meters to its full reserve capacity, which now threatens to submerge even the rehabilitation site on the outskirts of the village. Of the 62 plots allotted, only 30 are occupied as families fear the land will soon be submerged.
The district administration says it plans to reach out to the affected villagers. "Awards have been announced long time back. There will always be claims and counter claims. We are anyway going to the village again including rehabilitation sites. We will talk to them again and resolve their problem," said Barwani Collector Tejaswi S Naik.
The Narmada Bachao Andolan group, which has been fighting for the villagers, claims that if the Sardar Sarovar is filled to 139 metres, 244 villages in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra will be inundated. This will affect over 45,000 families who have not got yet been fully compensated.